Three semicircular volumes of different scales make up this retreat for digital nomads in Portugal, completed by Porto architecture studio Fala Atelier. 

Partially embedded into a hillside in Sobral de Monte Agraço, the Cookie Cutter Retreat was conceived to accommodate digital nomads across its three concrete volumes containing a private house, a shared dwelling and an adaptable hall.

The three volumes are nearly identical, emerging from the site with blocky, blue chimneys and topped with grass roofs, which Fala Atelier said “almost disappear” into the landscape.

Plans and photographs

Previous Next

Plans and photographs

Close
  • Floor plans

“The three buildings enjoy considerable freedom in their relationships with the site, the slope and one another, sharing a geometric vocabulary without submitting to a rigid overall composition,” the studio told Dezeen. 

“From a distance, they almost disappear, leaving the windows and bright blue chimneys to announce their presence,” it added. 

“Their placement makes the landscape a fluid game."

Photo by Lera Samovich

The retreat’s three buildings were scaled as small, medium and large versions of the same semicircular volume. and built with the same materials and dimension ratios.

Each one is composed of a concrete frame, which is embedded into the landscape and incorporates round columns. These are adorned with glazed fronts and tilted metal canopies.

Diagonal walls slice through each of the volumes to distinguish the public and private areas, behind which are spaces that draw on houses by architects Frank Gehry, Toyo Ito and Alvaro Siza, according to Fala Atelier.

“Each [volume] is divided by a diagonal wall, placing a dense collection of small rooms beside an expansive, almost empty space,” the studio said. 

“We treated fragments of [Gehry, Ito and Siza's] plans as objets trouvés, borrowing their internal formal relationships almost verbatim.”

The hall, which is the largest of the three spaces, was designed by Fala Atelier to “host almost any activity”.

Its front portion is open plan, while private spaces sit behind, finished with a combination of white-painted and tile-clad walls contrasted by blue and fluorescent-yellow details. 

This same materiality and colour palette is repeated throughout the retreat’s private and shared dwellings to create a consistent visual language across the site. 

“The consistency allows the differences to become more intriguing,” the studio said. “You recognise the family immediately, even if you briefly wonder which relative you have entered,” it added. 

Read:

Inverted roof creates sculptural interiors for home in Porto by Fala Atelier

Elsewhere in Portugal, Corkinho used solid cork to construct a pavilion dedicated to silence in Alentejo and António Costa Lima Arquitectos has completed a warehouse-style housing block in Lisbon.

The post Fala Atelier embeds trio of playful volumes into Portuguese hillside for Cookie Cutter Retreat appeared first on Dezeen.